See that Nao robot waving its hand up there? It's not starting a dance routine: it just had a light-bulb moment, so it's trying to catch a human's attention. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor Selmer Bringsjord programmed the three robots to think that two of them were given a "dumbing pill." In reality, that pill's a button on top of their heads that can be pressed by the tester. When the tester asked the robots which pill they received, their processors crunched data in order to provide the right answer. Since two of them were unable to talk, only one answered out loud. "I don't know," the third robot replied, realizing the truth a short while later.

What's it like to fall in love with a robot? We share our impressions after spending some time with Nao, a cute toddler-sized robot. Meanwhile, Sony brought an updated version of Project Morpheus to GDC and some of tech's biggest companies joined up to argue in favor of marriage equality. Get all the details on today's top stories in the Daily Roundup.

My love affair with mechanical companions can be traced back to Teddy Ruxpin, the animatronic bear that replaced the inanimate My Buddy doll as my go-to plaything as a young boy. But three nights in Las Vegas almost destroyed that lifelong fascination. Almost.

We're used to seeing robots like MIT's Cheetah that are absolutely terrifying, so starting day two of Expand New York with an android dance party was a welcome change of pace. It came, of course, by way of the folks at Aldebaran Robotics who brought a trio of their fifth-generation Nao bi-peds to bust a groove. The outfit's James Dietrich said that while there are over 10,000 of the friendly little 'bots in use in some 70 countries, there are a more than a few things holding us back from having Rosie from The Jetsons in our homes. Namely, the price needs to come down: Developers can get one for $6,000 and a consumer model is a whopping $8,000.

You may remember Nao, a charming humanoid robot, for its exploits on the soccer field, dance floor, or even for its love of amateur dramatics. While Nao has enjoyed chatting with us humans since its maker Aldebaran Robotics added Nuance's speech recognition wizardry in 2011, the pair have today reaffirmed their desire to turn the droid into a true conversationalist. Upgraded cloud-based tech from Nuance will apparently "allow people to have truly natural conversations with the robot" in 19 different languages when the new models become available early next year. Furthermore, Nao has a fresh, distinct voice intended to better represent its "personality" -- one that's programmed never to tire of your trivial discussions. A demo of these new features can be seen below, although Nao mostly lets folks from Nuance and Aldebaran take the floor to talk of the partnership and the future of robot interaction. Not before it busts out some new moves, however.

Robots can clean your pool and pick up after your lavish dinner parties, but what use is Mr. Nao when you're ringing for a nightcap from the comfort of your second-floor bedroom? Okay, so we've seen the odd bot take a journey up some stairs, but how many cyborgs are prepared to scale flights that twist and turn? Researchers from the University of Freiburg's Humanoid Robots Laboratory have demonstrated a Nao humanoid capable of climbing spiral staircases, which, of course, are more challenging to scale than their non-curving counterparts. A laser range scanner on the top of the robot's head provides a global estimation of the bot's position, and the humanoid uses a 3D model of the staircase to match up with the images it captures on each step. This system lets it get a good enough grip on its geography to successfully detect stair edges and make it to the top with nary a trip. Take a look for yourself in the video below.

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Tue, 24 Jul 2012 23:33:00 -040021|20284234http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/03/developer-pairs-robot-with-gaming-controllers-for-remote-cat-gro/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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You could take the time to make your cat feel loved. Or you could augment a robot to do it for you. Software engineer Taylor Veltrop has accomplished this by combining a 21-inch-tall Nao robot, a few Wiimotes, a Kinect sensor bar, a treadmill and a head-mounted display. The configuration, which represents about a year's work and several thousand dollars in parts, uses the Kinect and Wii remotes to control the robot's arms, the sensor bar and treadmill to provide movement and the head-mounted display to move the Nao's head and adjust its camera angle. This is still a work in progress, and doesn't include things like two-way audio, which Veltrop plans to implement using an integrated microphone and speakers. Click past the break for a video of robotic feline grooming action.

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Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:53:00 -050021|20139337http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/myrobots-com-for-all-of-your-robots-social-needs/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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You have your Facebook, Twitter, and some even MySpace. But what about your beloved cyborgs? They've got social needs too, you know. According to NewScientist, there's a new site on the block that'll allow your droids to have status updates of their own. Furthermore, MyRobots.com aims to be a complete social hub for humanoids; aside from the "I need to be charged" updates, they'll also secure a complete profile with name and photo. Of course, apps couldn't be left behind, which is why the company is planning a cloud-based app store to cap off its efforts. Unfortunately, just like The Facebook in its early days, the site is only open to a select few for now: Nao and Arduino-based robots. Needless to say, if you're going to have your mechanical partner make you a sandwich, the least you can do is let it share its feelings with friends.

Aldebaran Robotics' Nao robot has already received a few upgrades from both the company itself and other developers, but it now has a proper successor. Aldebaran took the wraps off its new and improved Nao Next Gen robot today, touting features like a 1.6GHz Atom processor and dual HD cameras that promise to allow for better face and object recognition even in poor lighting conditions. What's more, while robot's outward appearance hasn't changed much, it has also received a number of software upgrades, including Nuance voice recognition, an improved walking algorithm, and a number of other measures to cut down on unwanted collisions. As before, the robot is aimed squarely at researchers and developers, but the Aldebaran's chairman notes that the company is continuing to pursue its goal of providing a Nao intended for individuals -- a goal he notes is being aided by the contributions from its developer program. Check out the gallery below and the video after the break for a closer look.Gallery-141472

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Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:51:00 -050021|20124691http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/09/nao-robot-grabs-a-head-mounted-camera-puts-your-photographic-sk/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/09/nao-robot-grabs-a-head-mounted-camera-puts-your-photographic-sk/http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/09/nao-robot-grabs-a-head-mounted-camera-puts-your-photographic-sk/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsYou see, herein lies the problem. At a glance, Nao looks humane. Even kind. In fact, it's bruited that he's helped on a few missions in his day. But underneath, he's a cold-blooded talent snatcher, and thanks to a little push from one Raghudeep Gadde, he might just capture your vacation in a manner that's superior to your own. As the story goes, this here scientist at the International Institute of Information Technology in Hydrabad, India, converted the humanoid into quite the shooter. He strapped a camera on its dome, and then programmed it to follow a pair of iron-clad photographic guidelines: the rule of thirds, and the golden ratio. Purportedly, Nao does a ton of analysis before finally deciding on how to compose and capture a shot, and for his next trick, he'll run circles around your existing Lightroom actions. So much for perfecting your craft, eh?

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Sat, 09 Jul 2011 17:31:00 -040021|19985887http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/22/aldebaran-to-create-all-terrain-disaster-relief-robots-make-a-h/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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We've seen Nao bust a move and play a little footy, and now its creator is making plans to take its bots off-roading in the name of disaster relief. Aldebaran robotics recently announced its intention to invest in and develop a range of robots that can traverse rocky roads to help in hazardous situations, citing the tsunami in Japan as a catalyst for the move. The company's yet to state how it will make this happen, but says it's already made contributions to Cap Robotique, the "French cluster dedicated to the development and innovation in the field of service robotics." If you ask us, we're all for Nao gettin' a little dirt under its nails, as long as it can still serve Fosse. Full PR after the break.

Robots that are able to find a charger and plug themselves in may not be that unique anymore, but most of those chargers tend to leave the robot with little to do while it replenishes its batteries. Not so with this new charger developed by Aldebaran Robotics for its Nao robot, which basically consists of a retractable extension cord that leaves the robot free to continue interacting with its owner, or simply sit down and chill out as the case may be. What's more, while that comes from Aldebaran itself, we're also now starting to see some results out of the company's new developer program, and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that one of the first standout projects involves Wiimote and Kinect controls. Head on past the break to see both it and the new charging station on video.

We've been following Aldebaran Robotics' Nao humanoid robot literally since it took its first steps, and it looks like interested developers will finally be able to get their hands on a bot of their own quite soon. To do so, they'll have to sign up and quality for the just-launched Nao developer program, which costs €3,600 (or roughly $4,800) and will initially be limited to just 200 participants. That hefty price does naturally include the robot itself, along with a complete software suite, and "privileged access" to Aldebaran Robotics' source code. Interested? Hit up the link below for the complete details.

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Sun, 28 Nov 2010 06:06:00 -050021|19734612http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/18/nao-robots-get-together-to-get-down-video/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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We've seen evidence of the Nao robots' dancing capabilities in the past, but this gigantic group of them cutting the rug together is off-the-charts impressive. Check out the video below, plus a very special video we made just for you. Because we love you.

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Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:26:00 -040021|19522209http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/01/cignias-nao-symphony-wireless-ipod-boombox-gets-unboxed/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Cignias' NAO Symphony still doesn't seem to be widely available following its CES unveiling, but our good pal Dave Zatz looks to have sourced one from the wild, wild abyss. He did the world a favor by hosting up unboxing shots and a few first impressions, noting that this "sophisticated" iPod speaker dock actually interests him far more than most of those me-too offerings cluttering shelves today. Unfortunately, he's still working on getting the iPhone app to connect to a hidden SSID, but feel free to hit the source link and peruse the image gallery while he gets that ironed out.

If you were too timid to make the leap when this bad boy went up for pre-order, the Cignias NAO Symphony (and NAO Symphony Noir, which is the same thing, except dressed in black) is available for sale. The iPhone / iPod touch (second gen and later) dock can be controlled wirelessly from the included remote control, yet another iPhone / iPod touch or via BlackBerry app (which strikes us as bizarre, truth be told). In addition, your Apple or BlackBerry smart phone can stream music to it over WiFi or you can use any BlackBerry vie Bluetooth. Boasting a modest 50 watts, the device is available will run you $299 -- hit the source link to get started. PR after the break.

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Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:14:00 -050021|19308018http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/nao-performs-star-wars-homage-scores-mad-geek-cred/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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While we're still busy thinking up legitimate uses for a humanoid robot, Aldebaran Robotics keeps finding newer and zanier ways to play with its Nao. The latest is a pre-programmed Star Wars routine that should have all you aging loyalists positively moist with glee, and even includes a terrific R2D2 impersonation that is not to be missed. Past the break, you shall find it. Oh, and as to real world uses, there are further videos of Nao reading out your emails and doing balancing acts, which may be found at the source link.

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Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:37:00 -050021|19274730http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/27/cignias-nao-symphony-ipod-speaker-enables-wifi-control-with-ipho/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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You know what's annoying? Having to get up and walk all the way to your iPod dock to pick a song. Sure, there's the good old remote control these days, but you'd still need to squint at the tiny screen from afar if you want any modicum of song control. The couch potatoes at Cignias probably felt the same pain and thus came up with the free MusicNAO app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and BlackBerry, allowing you to control and browse content over WiFi on the iPod docked on NAO Symphony speakers. It doesn't end there: you can also stream music from the latest iPhone OS devices over Bluetooth, and the same goes for BlackBerry phones but with the addition of WiFi streaming. There's no word on the sound quality yet, but the adventurous among you can pre-order a NAO Symphony for $249 ahead of its December 1st launch.

We're no strangers to Aldebaran Robotics' little humanoid robot, Nao -- in fact, we've seen plenty of him over the years. We've also spied our fair share of Microsoft's Surface table, too -- but you know, we've definitely never seen the two together in the same room. Interacting. Sounds pretty interesting, right? It did to us too, so we popped some popcorn and sat back to enjoy a full minute's viewing bliss of these two -- and we have to say, it was well worth it. Nao demonstrates his dexterity at zooming in and out on a photograph of a tiger (which looks suspiciously exact to one we paint-by-numbered last year), and moves around a stack of various other photos, too. It's all great, impressive fun, and we have to say, the fact that Nao is spewing French makes it all the cuter, and though it's been a while since we cracked our college texts, we're fairly certain he says "Microsoft Surface is so awesome, but I'm holding out for Windows 7" at one point. Video is after the break.

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Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:54:00 -040021|19147769http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/26/video-sony-rolly-vs-nao-in-epic-robot-dance-off/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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While Sony's $400 Rolly never made much sense as a roll-about musical robot, at least Aldebaran Robotics' Nao could walk upright and play a little football. Now the two have come together to battle on the dance floor. The 91 second video posted after the break is about 70 seconds too long, but consider this your moment of Zen for the day. Bonus points for any readers who re-enact this for Halloween.

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Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:40:00 -040021|19140987http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/04/robocup-bots-experiment-with-our-preconceived-notions-of-competi/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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We've been tracking the glacial pace of RoboCup competition for a while now, and we're starting to see it as less of a credible threat to human soccer players, and more like an elaborate experiment on the part of the robots to broaden our perception of the world and competitive sport. Or maybe there's just a few more bugs to work out. This year's Standard Platform League of the RoboCup is based on Nao humanoid bots, and the Northern Bites team of Bowdoin College posted some truly insightful footage of the event -- the finals of which can be found after the break.

We've been keeping an eye on Aldebaran's NAO robot since before it even took its first steps, and it now looks like the little guy is finally set to try to make it on its own in the wild world of the commercial market. That word comes courtesy of an exhaustive white paper posted by Aldebaran on the arXiv website, which also includes the helpful little detail that the bot will cost interested laboratories about €10,000 (or roughly $15,600). Unfortunately, there's no indication as to exactly when the bot will be available, but those in the market for one can at least tide themselves a bit over by pouring over the details available in the PDF at the link below.

Aldebaran Robotics' Nao robot certainly doesn't seem to be in any rush to take over the world, but it looks like it's at least making some progress, as evidenced by its appearance at RoboCup 2007 in Atlanta this week. What's more, the company's just revealed that it's decided to give Nao some companionship, introducing a new, slightly smaller model with added sensors, eyes, and "dozens of other improvements," not to mention a spiffy new red paint job. While Aldebaran will apparently have more to say about that particular bot "in the next weeks so," you can check out a video of it in action at the link below, along with one of the older Nao walking slightly more steadily than before, though apparently still not able to muster up a kick.

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Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:10:00 -040021|933797http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/20/aldebaran-robotics-nao-robot-takes-first-steps/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/20/aldebaran-robotics-nao-robot-takes-first-steps/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/20/aldebaran-robotics-nao-robot-takes-first-steps/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsLast we heard from Aldebaran Robotics' Nao robot it didn't exactly have all that many skills to show off, simply waving to the camera and uttering a few words to prove that it was more than just an illustration. It looks like it's been spending the last few months learning some new tricks though, with it now able to stand on its own two feet and walk across the room. As you can see in the video linked below, however, it isn't all that graceful, and it certainly doesn't look like it'll be challenging PLEN to a skateboarding competition anytime soon.